A former college football coach phoned me out of the blue this week, fired up to discuss Ohio State’s loss to Penn State last Saturday.“The best thing that could have happened to them,” he said of the Buckeyes’ 24-21 setback in Happy Valley. Huh? “Not that you ever want to have to lose to learn a lesson, but they will get better because of this,” the coach continued. “Sometimes you need adversity to make you actually work on the things you only say you’re working on.” Such as? “Take special teams play, for example,” he said. “Coaches like to say they emphasize special teams. And Urban Meyer is very involved with that unit. But when you’re winning, you don’t really spend as much time on it as you say you do. Now they will.” Interesting. If true what the old coach is saying, the CEOs in charge of college football programs take more of a “if it ain’t broke” mentality toward their teams than what they let on. Cracks appear, get acknowledged but go unrepaired until collapse occurs. What happens next depends on the coach. Meyer has proved adept at making quick fixes. Only five times in his previous 14…
Continue Reading: Gameday+ | Rob Oller commentary: Silver lining of loss is that it forced Buckeyes into fix-it mode
